


Right choices are never pretty choices

by Klovar



Category: OneShot (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, I wanted to say that for ages so finally wrote a oneshot for oneshot, POV Second Person, return home ending, return the sun ending, some other characters briefly mentioned, starring you as the player, this is a oneshot oneshot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:07:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27774274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klovar/pseuds/Klovar
Summary: There are a lot of sayings about choices, you think, but right now the only one that you can think of isthere are no right choices in this world, and oh, isn't that just true? The problem, then, is that you've been asked, "what's the right choice?", and you hesitate to choose- because is there a right choice?
Kudos: 17





	Right choices are never pretty choices

There is no right choice.

There is no right choice, there is no good choice, and there is no better choice. You know this, and it wears on you. It's been wearing on you since you first learnt of the choice you must make, and it's starting to wear on Niko, too.

Their eyes flicker uncertainly, flitting between the two choices presented to you both, and they hold the sun tightly. They are silent, and you know that no matter what you pick, they will listen. You imagine the sun they hold isn't just a source of light, but a source of warmth, and of comfort too. It is the one constant throughout your journey with Niko, the one thing you both strived to protect, the source of hope and wonder for every inhabitant.

It is what you must destroy, if you were to pick Niko over this world.

And you can't- you _can't_ possibly pick that. The sun is fragile and precious, harbouring a frail hope for a better life. You have seen the dreary state of the world, and the sun is the key to change it all. How could you be selfish enough to sacrifice a world of people you knew, of people Niko have befriended and promised to save, for a single life?

But the alternative is no better. The very thought of sacrificing Niko- a _child_ \- their happiness and safety and possibly their life, is simply innately wrong and cruel. You have grown fond of them, over the course of your journey. Every life is precious, and logically, you know that should you ever need pick, a single life for so many others would be a small price to pay. It is the less impactful option.

But you can't.

You can't pick either.

There is no right choice, and it's _agonising_.

~~~

There is no right choice, only your selfish greed and biased judgement. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what _should_ be the better choice. All that matters is what you _want_ to be the better choice. It is the choice you will justify to be right, the choice you will argue for, the choice you will pour your effort into to make sure it doesn't end up being the wrong one.

That is the choice you pick.

Niko sways on their feet, leaning closer to the choice you hover over, highlighted in yellow. That is when you know that Niko understands that there are no right choices, either. There is only your choice, and they will justify and follow through.

It makes it just that much harder to confirm your choice.

Throughout your journey, you have both protected the sun, and you have protected Niko. Perhaps it was the appeal of their cat-like features, or perhaps it was their naive and pure personality, or perhaps it was how simply they treated you as a friend. You love Niko. Niko loves you.

You know Niko loves their Mama and home just as much, if not more fiercely. You know how much Niko wants to go home. You have witnessed that longing first hand. You have seen their dreams, and you have heard the longing in their voice when they speak of home. You have seen the way their face lights up with hope at the mention of their Mama. You know how much Niko wants to return home.

And you tell Niko to return the sun.

You see the moment the choice registers. Something like despair flashes across Niko's face- of _course_ they had hoped you would tell them to return home, who wouldn't?- before they close their eyes, gathering themselves, and a resigned determination settles over them. You watch, uneasy, but unwilling to back down. You can't, anyway.

"Y-you're right.." Niko says, and the confirmation from Niko, no matter how shaky, is enough to undo the uneasiness in your chest, "I can't just leave everyone here to die."

Niko looks at you steadily, resolve growing and quickly rebuilding their confidence under the choice you have issued. That, coupled with their thanks, almost validates the choice all by itself.

Almost.

It's the snippets of life you are presented that does it in for you, though. Warm pride grows in your chest, rejoicing with the friends you have made as they wonder at the sun. _Look at what you've done, Niko,_ you want to tell them, _look at how happy you made everyone._

Maybe there were no right choices, but there always was the better choice.

This isn't the better choice.

The guilt hits home hard and fast, any semblance of pride and glee crushed by its force, leaving a hollow void in your chest. The happy memories turn dour, empty of meaning- empty like the room you have been presented with. It's undoubtedly the room you first met Niko in, save for the fact that it is decidedly brightly lit and Niko isn't there.

The music keeps playing, before it abruptly cuts as the game closes itself.

You sit in front of the computer, waiting for something that never happens.

~~~

There is no right choice, but you think you can make a _better_ choice. It's not cheating, you firmly decide, it's a second chance that you're kind enough to extend to Niko as the higher power in this universe. You're being fair and just and kind.

"What's the right thing to choose?"

This time, you don't hesitate. After all, there is no use for a second chance in a dying world. Niko, however, is bright and young, a ball of sunshine all by themselves. It wouldn't be fair to ask them to give it all up for nothing. It wouldn't be fair. Besides, hadn't the entity that had helped you both through all the puzzles ask you to return Niko home? And, well, you were sure that the world's inhabitants loved Niko enough as well to let them go on their way to a happier life.

It was a win-win for everybody. This was the better choice.

It had to be.

So you tell Niko to return home.

The sound of glass shattering is disconcerting, but more than that is the completely dark room you find Niko in. They aren't holding the sun- of course they aren't, they shattered it. You made them carry through with something terrible enough that they cried over the mere idea of it- but they seem fine, and you tell yourself that that's all that matters.

Niko is alive, Niko is fine, and that's all that matters. You don't think about how you have doomed the rest of the world. You don't think about what was sacrificed for a single life.

There's no right choice, only better ones, and this _is_ that better choice.

It has to be.

"Mama?" Niko gasps, surprise giving way to pure amazement and joy within seconds, and it's almost enough to validate the choice.

Almost.

You're left with the same empty feeling of _wrong_ as Niko flat out walks out of the window, out of the computer, and out of your life. They're going home, you remind yourself dully, but it doesn't mean anything. The thought is dull- dull like the death of the world you witness. Light and colour fades out of the world- a world, you can't help but notice, that is distinctly empty, and purely scenery.

The game doesn't respond when you try to open it, as if it doesn't exist. As if it's dead. As if it has been erased.

You did that.

You just erased an entire world, all of it's population, all if it's life, and all of it's charm. You just killed what had to be at least a hundred people. And maybe you're overreacting, because it's just a video game, and it isn't real, but something about the game feels so immersing that you just can't quite believe that.

The guilt weighs heavy and strong. This isn't the right choice. It can't be.

~~~

There is no right choice.

There is no right choice, there is no good choice, and there is no better choice. There are only the same two, haunting options: return the sun, or return home. There is nothing else.

You lead Niko through the Refuge, away from Ling's cafe. Their feet clang on the metal, and you know that should you be in their place, you would have been frightened by the sheer height this area was in. But Niko remains steady and trusting of your direction.

They trusted you, even if it was their life on the line, and you led them wrong three times. The first time, you told them to return the sun. The second, you told them to return home. The third time, you sat and waited and couldn't choose.

The world had dissolved to ruin along with Niko when you finally reopened the game after an agonising two days, spent debating with yourself over which choice to make this time, weighing the pros and cons of each ending and trying to find the better one.

But not this time. This time, you know what to do.

"I'm really tired from walking around.." Niko murmurs, as you prompt them to interact with the bed, and they ask if they may rest.

The bed, as you understand it, functions as a safe point. It forcibly quit the game, but unlike in the endings, the world simply ground to a halt, trapped in stasis. This quit was neither as final nor uneverring as they were in either ending. Perhaps Niko wouldn't dream, if you were not there, but they could sleep. The world moved on, frozen in time- but frozen in happiness, too.

No one died. No one passed. Nothing was resolved: Silver and Kip remained estranged; the world remained dark; Niko remained trapped. But you tell yourself that this is the best choice you can make, as you respond to Niko, "yes."

There is no right choice. One option leads to the death of a world. The other leads to the death of a child. You love both, and you cannot let either go.

"Goodbye," you whisper, cursor hovering over the icon of the game that you have come to love. Perhaps it loved you in return. Perhaps it hated you for the choice you made.

It didn't matter. There was no right choice. At least, in this way, you have made the best of what you had to work with. The world and Niko lived on together, and that is all you ask.

You step away.

**Author's Note:**

> Before you all start screaming at me in the comments "WHat aBouT soLStiCe", no, I haven't forgotten about it. But I wanted to capture the conflict of there being no right choice, and solstice kind of ruins that. Also, may I just remind everyone that solstice is not a happy ending, because of a) the trauma b) maize's death :')
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked my weird little fic, and I guess you can still scream at me about the solstice run if you really want to, hh.


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